Habakkuk 1-3 Trusting God Through Doubt

Habakkuk had some doubts about what God was doing.  He felt that God was ignoring his fervent prayers for his nation.  Suddenly, God answered him!  He said, “ …. Be amazed and shocked.  I will do something in your lifetime that you won’t believe even when you are told about it.”  God told Habakkuk what He was up to, but not why.  “He doesn’t owe us any explanations, but He does graciously reveal Himself and His work to those who seek Him,” my commentary said.

Habakkuk worried that he was seeing inconsistency on the part of God.  After all, He was using wicked people to punish His own people for their sins.  “If you believe in God, you sometimes wonder why He allows certain things to happen.  But keep in mind that there’s a difference between doubt and unbelief.  Like Habakkuk, the doubter questions God and may even debate with God, but the doubter doesn’t abandon God.  But unbelief is rebellion against God, a refusal to accept what He says and does.  Unbelief is an act of the will, while doubt is born out of a troubled mind and a broken heart,” my commentary said.

Habakkuk decides to trust God despite his lack of understanding and his doubts.  He ends by saying, “I hear these things, and my body trembles … But I will wait patiently … Fig trees may not grow figs, and there may be no grapes on the vines.  There may be no olives growing and no food growing in the fields.  There may be no sheep in the pens and no cattle in the barns.  But I will still be glad in the Lord; I will rejoice in God my Savior.  The Lord God is my strength.  He makes me like a deer that does no stumble so I can walk on the steep mountains.”

Thank You for taking me through everything with Josh’s adoption so that I could learn  that for myself, Father.  Thank You for teaching me the four words to say when I doubt:  “I trust You, God.”

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford